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Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov
(February 29, 1924 - November 23, 2007) Russia

Vladimir Kryuchkov

Politician

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Kryuchkov was born into a working-class family, in Volgograd. He ended the diplomat school in 1954 and became the opportunity to work in Hungary. He did that job till 1959. He worked for the CP HQ in Ukraine eight years and 1967 entered the KGB.

He was promoted to general in 1982 and became the KGB chairman in 1988. He tried to keep KGB working in the background. Slowly he was able to win Gorbatchev's confidence. But he was one of the leaders of the anti-Gorbachev putsch in 1991. He was jailed and replaced by Vadim Bakatin.

Kryuchkov was opposed to the dismantling of the Soviet Union and was one of the main organizers of the unsuccessful coup of August 1991. He was arrested but released from prison in 1993 and in 1996 published his memoirs, A Personal File (Lichnoye delo), where he defended his attempt to keep the Soviet Union together and accused Gorbachev of weakness and duplicity.

In 1994 he attended the pro-gay rally.

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